I traveled to Ukraine to teach sociology. It left me amazed.
Opinion A university in Kyiv is under siege — and running more than 12 hours a day. March 16, 2026 7 min By Nicholas A. Christakis, The Washington Post Nicholas A. Christakis lectures in a bomb shelter at the Kyiv School of Economics. (Courtesy of KSE) Nicholas A. Christakis is a physician and sociologist who directs the Human Nature Lab at Yale University. He hosts “For the Love of Science” on YouTube. I’d never taught in a war zone before. But when the rector of the Kyiv School of Economics called last autumn, I found it impossible to say no. Three days in a nice hotel with a fortified bomb shelter while the rest of the country endured daily attacks? The visit seemed like a small show of solidarity with scientific colleagues and the Ukrainian people. It felt, too, like an opportunity to witness theory in practice. Having spent my career studying the biological and social roots of collective human behavior, I understood that wider circles of people exchanging ideas can mak...
